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Davis: Bowdoin Street corridor focus of crackdown on violence, but areas across city to see more patrols
By adamg on Fri, 07/08/2011 - 12:14pm
Davis press conference; was carried live on the Internet.
Police Commissioner Ed Davis said today he is stepping up patrols in "parks and other public places" across the city as his department tries to put a lid on recent violent outbreaks that have left people fleeing for their lives and schools and houses shot up as gang members try to eliminate their rivals.
At a press conference, Davis said almost all of the recent escalation in violence is due to gang members shooting it out with each other - both young gangbangers and men in their 30s who are being targeted for retaliatory hits dating back to beefs when they were teens themselves.
Davis said Dorchester in general, but in particular the Bowdoin Street corridor, has borne the brunt of the bloodshed. He said he is optimistic that increasing patrols - and greater emphasis on watching and picking up known "impact players" will have the same effect as it did when done earlier this year in Mattapan.
He said BPD yesterday swept up 28 "known community predators" and that several undercover operations now underway will mean even more arrests in coming weeks. Davis said BPD is working closely with a regional law-enforcement intelligence unit to keep tabs on these people.
The department hopes to have 200,000 walking beats done this year, compared to half that number last year, he said, adding residents can help by calling the department with any tips - anonymously if they prefer.
He said most of the guns flooding Boston streets come from housebreaks elsewhere in Massachusetts or from states with more lax gun-sales regulations, such as New Hampshire and down South.
- Davis's complete statement (does not include his answers to questions from reporters).
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Comments
Mics?
It would be sweet if they would mic the reporters so we could actually hear the questions..
List includes three women in their 40s and 50s
It's hard for me to imagine them being responsible for teenage street violence, but we'll see ...
You think drugs aren't at all
You think drugs aren't at all involved in gang violence? It's not just teen violence either, as the article says.
Gayle McLaughlin, 49, of South for warrants for Distribution of Class B Drugs
Betty Carrington, 51, of Charlestown for warrants for Distribution of Class B Drugs, and Distribution of Class B Drugs in a School Zone
Lisa Wallace, 40, of Everett for warrants for Distribution of Class A and B Drugs, Possession with Intent to Distribute Class E
These women, if guilty, should be locked up.
Couple Of Minor Points
It's the prohibition of drug usage that makes it worthwhile to blow off somebody's head. Drugs themselves? Not so much.
And I see South (I assume South Boston), Charlestown, and Everett listed here. Am I missing something? How do you believe these women are connected with the violence in Dorchester?
(I'll add that I recognize one of the names on this list. If she is the same person I bought coke from back in the mid-1980's, she is a very peaceful person, sweet as pie, and - unless she has changed drastically during the intervening years - would no more be involved in gang violence than my grandmother would.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
The list is a little suspect.
Yeah, these are mostly drug charges. And while I'm sure the trafficking is what's financing the violence, it's sort of disingenuous for the BPD to claim they're rooting out "community predators" when they're rounding up people on outstanding possession & trafficking charges, rather than, y'know, the people buying and selling weapons, or the ones who are actually opening fire on crowded streets.
Guess which cases can be
Guess which cases can be prosecuted, Erik? People don't want to come forward to testify in shooting cases, but drug cases are easy because they rarely require civilians to testify (the same ones who have to go back to the neighborhood and live after they testify against the gangbanger down the street).
Police know who the shooters are, and, conveniently, most of those shooters also sell drugs. And they're dumb. So, yeah, no-brainer. Take 'em off the street one way or another.
Clearly
None of you have watched The Wire. Seems like what is happening is a mirror of that. Two or more different gangs in the drug game, maybe stepping on each other's toes whether it be territory or product...violene ensues. None of this at all is "random."
Yep guns are just pouring in
Yep guns are just pouring in from everywhere outside the city & state and shooting people all on their own. No gang members going to war with each other over drug territory here. Move along mmmm-kay.